The discussion Wednesday concerned free agents, and Jerry Dipoto said signing a player “is almost always a 50/50 proposition.”

Not even 24 hours later, Dipoto agreed to terms with Josh Hamilton, whose risk/reward is significantly more tenuous than 50/50.

The Angels are adding a player who last season batted .285 with 43 home runs and 128 RBI.Hamilton also was surprisingly inconsistent in 2012 and at times looked clueless at the plate.

The Angels are adding the 2010 American League MVP.

Hamilton also has struggled for years with drug and alcohol addiction and had a very public relapse as recently as 10 months ago.

The Angels are adding a .304 career hitter who has averaged 33 homers in each of his past four full seasons.

Hamilton also has had vision problems caused by excessive caffeine consumption and injury issues and admits he can’t quit a chewing tobacco habit.

In all of this, Dipoto is investing five years of the Angels’ future and $125 million of Arte Moreno’s money.

The move Thursday showed a lot of guts on the part of the Angels’ general manager. Now, Dipoto has to hope Hamilton’s performance and behavior – and it’s always going to take both – show that the GM has a lot of smarts, too.

The signing will counteract the free-agent loss of Torii Hunter and mute the claims that the Angels simply turned cheap in the Zack Greinke negotiations. It also will give the Angels an outfielder surplus that could produce more help via trade.

Hamilton’s deal, however, opens an intriguing loophole in Dipoto’s thinking. In explaining the strategy of signing Joe Blanton and trading for Tommy Hanson – a pair of middling, affordable starters – Dipoto made it sound as if the Angels were against some financial limits.

He intimated that signing Greinke for anything near the $147 million the pitcher received from the Dodgers would have made adding depth to the rotation and bullpen nearly impossible.Then, a day later, the Angels dump $125 million on another outfielder? That’s a difference of $22 million, yes, and maybe the gap with Greinke was just too much to overcome.

But personally, I would have invested in Greinke – if at all possible – before I would have invested in Hamilton. Even if he exhausted that option, Dipoto’s moves leave enough room for debate.

So, not knowing the specifics of the contract and figuring the Angels have some insurance against Hamilton’s complete collapse, this is still the most risky signing in the history of the franchise, riskier even than giving 10 years and $254 million to a 32-year-old, heavy-legged Albert Pujols.

No one ever questioned whether Pujols would report to work on time or be a person who could be trusted. Hamilton’s status – even when he’s healthy – will always remain day-to-day.

Risky? What happens next will directly affect the futures of Dipoto and, especially, Manager Mike Scioscia. They are trying to end a three-year playoff drought, a drought that, if it reaches four years, likely will do so without Scioscia still being here.

The fact Hamilton left the Rangers without as much as a phone call – according to Texas GM Jon Daniels – is another concern.

Everyone knows the Rangers did a lot to help Hamilton, but only they know how much they really did. Despite all of the support, he couldn’t bring himself to tell the team directly that he was bolting and to an American League West rival?

Shaky, very shaky, particularly for a player the Angels are about to put among the most handsomely compensated in the history of the game. The rankings depend on how the cash and years are sliced, but this much is certain: Only Alex Rodriguez ever has been promised more money on a per-season basis.

Of course, the fact Daniels, jilted and all, still admits he wanted to retain Hamilton and was disappointed in not being given the chance to pitch a final offer says a lot about the player’s value.

So that’s what the Angels are getting in Hamilton – a significant risk capable of producing a monumental reward.

Here is something else to consider: Hamilton benefitted plenty from his team playing half its games in Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, a place that has fattened many offensive numbers.In 38 career games at Angel Stadium, however, he has batted only .260 with five home runs, an average of one every 30 at-bats.

Among ballparks in which he has played at least 20 games, Hamilton has a worse batting average only in Seattle’s Safeco Field.

And in Arlington, by the way, he averaged a home run once every 15 at-bats.

Yeah, this is risk, an expensive one that will shape the future of a team and a manager and test the wisdom of a GM’s decisions.

The discussion Wednesday also concerned public criticism, and Dipoto assured he can handle the heat.

“It’s OK,” he said. “It’s just part of the deal.”

Dipoto has some guts, clearly. Now, more than ever, we’ll find out about his smarts.

Jeff Miller has been a sports columnist since 1998, having previously written for the Palm Beach Post, South Florida Sun-Sentinel and Miami Herald. He began at the Register in 1995 as beat writer for the Angels.

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